Ashleigh McCulloch

Guest blogger Ashleigh McCulloch from SCDI on the vital importance of productivity and how a brand new government supported Productivity Club aims to add greater value to both the city and Scottish economies

Financial and
business services companies in Glasgow are among those being
invited to join an innovative, new Productivity Club.
The two-year pilot, run by SCDI and the
Scottish Government will bring together businesses to design an
approach focusing on the factors which could
increase productivity.

As a nation, we
have many productive businesses, however Scotland, and the UK as a
whole, is behind other countries in this area. If we can
increase our productivity and can produce more, we can add greater
value to the well-being of the economy and communities.

There are
several examples of businesses approaching their activities in
innovative ways through employee engagement, workplace design,
strategic planning, leadership development, recruitment, training
and embracing digital technologies which are all impacting on
business operations and driving value either in quality, speed or
reduced costs.

The industry-led
Club aims to gain provide valuable insights and knowledge from
these businesses in a peer to peer environment where leaders can
come together and examine other's approaches to incite ideas which
could advance areas of their own business. It will be a forum for
diffusion of ideas, collective learning and advancement of
relationships.

The pilot period
will see events held in Glasgow and in Edinburgh where businesses
of all sizes can assemble and share best practice from across all
sectors of the economy. For example, there are two highly
recommended Productivity Talks taking place in
Glasgow on 8th October and 6th November. Full
details of those and other events can be found
atproductivity.scot
.

We hope that
this pilot will demonstrate that collaborative discussions around
business challenges and solutions can influence operations which
lead to increased productivity and, in turn, impact positively on
the economy. Small incremental gains in this area will aggregate to
create a big difference.

The website will
provide information on the full programme of activities and
resources including how businesses can participate in the Club's
meetings and events.

Keep up to date with all the business and community
news from Glasgow's IFSD bysubscribingto our monthly e-newsletter or connecting onLinkedInandtwitter. #IFSD

Glasgow is a world-class business location for business and financial services companies with the property, infrastructure, technology and, above all, the people with the right skills and experience. Whether you are an inward investor locating in the city for the first time or an indigenous business looking to expand, the partners behind Glasgow’s International Financial Services District (IFSD) can provide all the connections, information and practical support you need.